353 



MARINE ZOOLOGY OF ARRAN. 



111. THE coast-line of Arran abounds with objects of 

 interest. Xor is this interest confined to geological science. 

 The naturalist and especially the student of marine zoology 

 will find here a field for investigation ; and even the 

 casual visitor, if endowed with the faculty of inqnisitiveness, 

 may obtain instinctive and amusing occupation. 



Let it be understood that the waters of the sea generally 

 teem with animated beings of an endless variety in form, 

 size, and structure, and that myriads of these creatures are 

 tikft mtofliilmlhi of rock-pools, where they share the vicissi- 

 tudes common to mortality sporting, at one moment, in the 

 full enjoyment of the pleasures of life, and at another instant 

 either wrangling or wrestling with an antagonist perhaps 

 for a mouthful of food or " scudding " with all their might 

 from the open Jaws of an approaching and ravenous enemy. 



We will TTi|HPf"" that we are now standing at Corriegills, 

 on. the sea nVorc in Brodick Bay, about one mile from In ver- 

 doy. Hie rocks am of the red sandstone formation ; and 

 the aoft material, yielding to the action of ceaseless tides, and 

 to die ladling waves of the winter storm, has been hewn in 

 all directions iajte fissures and small basins, which, renewed 

 with fresh supplies of water by each returning flood, are the 

 habitats of plants and MJIM!^ Look into these adjacent 

 pools. They appear to be almost covered with tiny sea- 

 weeds. Yet toe jungles of India are not more fully occupied 

 with their appropriate faMinMM titan are these patches of the 

 SOL They abound with microscopic life, generated under 

 the aisath of tike ami ; and, by stooping down and watching 



